Global city clusters: theorizing spatial and non-spatial proximity in inter-urban firm networks
运用社会网络分析方法，基于澳大利亚企业内部报告结构，研究空间与非空间因素（经济、社会文化、地缘政治）如何共同塑造城市集群，认为全球集群比城市等级列表更能揭示产业动态。
Spatial agglomeration is well theorized within regional studies and economic geography, with firm- and industry-level advantages generally attributable to the strategic benefits derived from spatial proximity. Increasingly, alternative proximity types have been explored to explain firm relationships within and between industries. This paper applies a novel social network analysis (SNA) approach to analyze city clustering as a function of both spatial and non-spatial factors – namely, economic, sociocultural and geopolitical. Based on the internal reporting structures of Australia-based firms, it explores how ‘global clusters’ are more useful in understanding industry dynamics and processes than hierarchical lists of cities of cascading importance.